Abstract
Purpose. The purpose of this study was to describe the degree to which high school principals in Los Angeles County, California, experience levels of burnout. Additional purposes were to determine if significant relationships and differences exist between principals who rely on personal power and those who rely on position power with regard to extent of burnout experienced and if these differences are moderated by gender or socioeconomic status of the school, length of term, or amount of administrative experience. Methodology. A combined descriptive, correlational and ex post facto research were used to investigate burnout in high school principals. This study examined the characteristics of burnout in high school principals by measuring levels of: (1) emotional exhaustion; (2) depersonalization; and (3) decreased personal accomplishment. In addition, the social power bases relied upon by the same principals were assessed so that dependence on position and personal power bases could be measured. Two instruments were used in the study; the Maslach Burnout Inventory was used to measure burnout and the Power Base Inventory was used to measure reliance on position power and personal power. Major findings. (1) Twenty-six percent of respondents reported experiencing high levels of emotional exhaustion. Depersonalization was not a significant problem for responding high school principals. Only 10 percent of the respondents indicated high levels of decreased personal accomplishment. (2) Personal power was used more frequently by 39 percent of principals, while position power was relied on by 61 percent of high school principals. (3) Principals who rely on personal power tend to experience significantly less emotional exhaustion. (4) Male principals tend to experience significantly less emotional exhaustion than did female principals. (5) There was no significant difference between low and high socioeconomic schools and burnout measures. (6) Principals reporting less administrative experience scored higher in emotional exhaustion. Conclusions and recommendations. Conclusions; (1) Burnout may be able to be personally controlled based upon how a leader chooses to exercise power. (2) Environmental factors may not be a significant contributor to burnout in educational leaders. (3) Emotional exhaustion is the key variable in assessing burnout. (4) The degree of burnout reported by high school principals may be related to the capacity of leaders to positively work with people. Recommendations for practice are: (1) Power bases need to be understood by principals so that reliance on personal power is increased. (2) Burnout is a concept with which high school principals should become knowledgeable. (3) Gender is significantly related to high levels of burnout. (4) Administrators with less experience tend to experience greater amounts of burnout than do more experienced principals.